Sign in toNOLA.com

Causeway good Samaritans reflect on week of attention, receive Jefferson Parish Council award

Updated June 11, 2014 at 12:03 PM;Posted June 11, 2014 at 11:39 AM

causeway samaritans.jpg

At the center, good samaritans Alvin Pike and Sean Cargo stand amidst the Jefferson Parish Council and Parish President John Young. The parish awarded them with a Certificate of Merit on June 11 for their work rescuing a driver that plunged over the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway on May 31. From left to right: Councilman Mark Spears Jr., Councilman Paul Johnston, Councilman Ricky Templet, Parish President John Young, Alvin Pike, Sean Cargo, Councilman Chris Roberts, Councilman Elton Lagasse, Councilwoman Cynthia Lee-Sheng, Councilman Ben Zahn.
(Adriane Quinlan, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)

They were given an award from the government. The cameras flashed. Politicians shook their hands. Last week, they appeared on the television talk show "Good Morning America." But what did all this have to do with what happened?

On Wednesday, the two good Samaritans responsible for rescuing a driver who plunged off the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway on May 31 received a commendation from the Jefferson Parish Council. The certificate honored Alvin Pike and Sean Cargo for "outstanding service" and "selflessly assisting in the rescue of a driver."

In short, it recognized the two men for selflessness, for what they would have done anyway. "I'm uncomfortable with it to tell you the truth," said Pike, who jumped into the lake after the driver. "I'm not used to being in front of a group of people."

Besides, he said, the real hero was Cargo. Cargo had been the one behind Pike on the bridge, the one who pulled over his work truck, grabbed a rope and tossed it over to heave Pike and the errant driver, a 26-year-old River Ridge resident, from the water.

"I've been getting all the attention," Pike said. "I keep saying Sean should get the attention. If he didn't have that rope, we'd all be dead."

But Cargo didn't want the attention either. "Luck. That's all it was," he said, curt. "I just don't understand why all this is happening."

For Pike, it wasn't just luck; it was human instinct. "As far as me, I didn't even think," he said.

"I saw you, and you had already taken off your pants," Cargo said.

"It happened in seconds, a split second," Pike said. "It was so many people working together. They acted together like they had been re-enacting it for years."

"Yeah," Cargo said.

Still, the two men understood why people might want to read about their story, see them on television and bestow them with awards, poster-sized certificates printed with curlicue script that could seem so far from what they did that day with rope and luck and instinct.

"It's a feel-good story," Pike said. "There's not so much good news out there. It shows that people care about people. And down in Louisiana, that's the way we were raised."